From Salt Creek Acorn Yield, Forest Preserve Trees Grow

October 30, 1985|By Kathy Kastilahn.

Squirrels aren`t the only ones diligently gathering acorns this fall in the forest preserves of Cook County.

Their competition is the crew of six who tend the Salt Creek Nursery, a 33-acre plot at 500 Ogden Ave., Western Springs, that is surrounded by the 80- acre Salt Creek Forest Preserve, which stretches from Ogden north to 31st Street. ``We`re hoping for 130 bushels,`` says Jay Farina, nursery director, a smile of anticipation spreading across his face. ``This is a good year for acorns.``

In the spring the workers will plant the acorns as part of a forest preserve recycling program dating back 50 years to a Works Progress Administration project that began the nursery on land adjacent to Salt Creek.

Today all that remains of the WPA compound, which included barracks, is a quaint pump house. The pump wasn`t a success. ``They didn`t know Salt Creek was so polluted,`` Farina says.

The nursery, however, has been a success. Trees planted there grow throughout the 65,000 acres of county forest preserves--more trees, Farina says, than anyone can begin to number.

The oaks that will be started with acorns collected this fall eventually will be transplanted back into the forest preserves, ensuring healthy and stable wooded areas for the future. ``Our main goal is to keep the forest preserves as natural as possible,`` the director says.

Oaks--bur oaks, red oaks, white oaks--make up about 65 percent of the trees in area woods. When county foresters plant a reclaimed area, such as a farm, they use a random mix of year-old trees that reflect the ratio set by Mother Nature. Others among the 40 species grown at the nursery in this mix include honey locust, silver maple, green ash and linden.

Nature needs the helping hands of man, Farina says, largely because of man`s effect on the forest.

Trees at the picnic groves are particularly vulnerable to abuse, including being rammed by cars. Dutch elm disease has taken a heavy toll. Air pollution and acid rain pose more widespread dangers. Trees also die from old age.

The nursery crew collects seed from most of the other species in addition to oaks. That labor-intensive effort may seem more costly than simply ordering seeds, but Farina says that the seeds from the healthy trees growing naturally in the area will produce the hardiest new trees.

The nursery is almost one-of-a-kind. There are two much smaller plots in the Cook County system, and Du Page County came to Farina for advice before starting their own about three years ago. ``But I don`t know of any other forest preserve that has its own,`` he says. ``I go to shade tree conferences all over the country, and I`ve never met anyone who does what I do.``

Farina calls his work ``glorified farming.`` He has directed the nursery for 15 years, starting after he graduated from Southern Illinois University with a degree in forestry and spent a brief time teaching 6th grade.

His crew may not have credentials on paper, but they are knowledgeable, he says. ``They`ve been with me a long time. They know what they`re doing. One even used to be a farmer in Wisconsin.``

The director adds that he relishes his out-of-doors office. He was a city kid, a graduate of Lake View High School in Chicago. ``I always wanted to be outside,`` he says.

Farina walks down the paths that separate the sections of the tree farm. The crops will be ready for harvesting with the first frost. The trees that have been growing for five to seven years will be dug up and their roots balled. Other forest preserve crews will transport them to new locations. ``I don`t decide where,`` Farina says. ``My job is just to plant and grow.`` He adds that the big trees are usually planted in the picnic groves and on golf courses.

Rows of these trees, called line stock, form precise profiles against the blurred background of the forest just beyond. White ash go straight down one row, flowering crab the next, then linden, more crab, purple autumn ash, Ohio buckeye and silver maple.

In other sections much smaller trees grow closely spaced. The best of these saplings, or in nursery talk, ``whips,`` will become the next generation of line stock. Others will be dug and then planted by Boy Scouts in forest preserves. Garden clubs and nearby communities sometimes request them for park plantings. If the supply is ample, the nursery is glad to make the small trees available.

``We don`t sell anything,`` Farina says. ``Our purpose is just to grow trees for our own needs.`` The nursery operation doesn`t have a separate budget, but is part of the forest preserve budget. There is considerable exchange of labor and equipment among the departments. Pointing to a mound at the edge of the line stock, Farina says that Brookfield Zoo provides the nursery`s fertilizer.

Stopping in front of a patch of silver maples at the nursery, Farina bends to touch one of the light green, distinctively shaped leaves that seem out-of-place on the bushy plant, not yet 3 feet high.